Hi friends,

Today Shanah @bionicbookworm asked us to talk about our top 5 summer reads.

Instead of talking about favorite books to read in summer and maybe sound repetitive recommending all the same favorites, I thought I would share with SOME of the books I WILL (not plan to but will) read this summer and explain in a few words why they are calling to me.

You’ll see that I won’t read only light contemporary but a little bit of everything because that’s just me!

Beach Read by Emily Henry: Genre: Romance. I will read it because it’s on my first group read on Instagram! That book has been everywhere and from the reviews that I have seen, the cover and title are misleading as in it’s not a light and fluffy read but you have much deeper topics! So of course I am intrigued!

SYNOPSIS

A romance writer who no longer believes in love and a literary writer stuck in a rut engage in a summer-long challenge that may just upend everything they believe about happily ever afters.

Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast.

They’re polar opposites.

In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.

Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.

The Guest List by Lucy Foley : genre mystery/thriller.

I will read this one because people compare it to Agatha Christie! It gets raving reviews on Instagram, is part of Book of the Month box and from what I guess from the synopsis, you’ll have a study in characters and a murder to solve!

SYNOPSIS

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the author of The Hunting Party.

The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

The Notorious Virtues by Alwyn Hamilton.  Genre: YA fantasy

I will read it because I love Alwyn’s books (by the way she is the friendliest and sweetest person I know) it’s about a magical competition, there is a rakish reporter (love the word rakish) and the cover is to drool on!

SYNOPSIS

At sixteen, Honora “Nora” Holtzfall is the daughter of the most powerful heiress in all of Walstad. Her family controls all the money–and all the magic–in the entire country. But despite being the center of attention, Nora has always felt like an outsider. When her mother is found dead in an alley, the family throne and fortune are suddenly up for grabs, and Nora will be pitted against her cousins in the Veritaz, the ultimate magical competition for power that determines the one family heir.

But there’s a surprise contestant this time: Lotte, the illegitimate daughter of Nora’s aunt. When Lotte’s absent mother retrieves her from the rural convent she’d abandoned her to, Lotte goes from being an orphan to surrounded by family. Unfortunately, most of them want her dead.

And soon, Nora discovers that her mother’s death wasn’t random–it was murder. And the only person she can trust to uncover the truth of what happened is a rakish young reporter who despises everything Nora and her family stand for.

With everyone against her, Lotte’s last hope is hunting for the identity of her father. But the dangerous competition–and her feelings for Theo, one of the Holtzfalls’ sworn protectors–turns her world upside down.

Incredible tests, impossible choices and deadly odds await both girls. But there can only be one winner.

The Prisoner’s Wife by Maggie Brookes. Genre: historical fiction

I will read it because I love historical fiction around WWII and this is a romance! a Czech farm girl falls in love with a British soldier and she will disguise as a men to accompany him. Swoon!

SYNOPSIS

Inspired by the true story of a daring deception that plunges a courageous young woman deep into the horrors of a Nazi POW camp to be with the man she loves.

In the dead of night, a Czech farm girl and a British soldier travel through the countryside. Izabela and prisoner of war Bill have secretly married and are on the run, with Izzy dressed as a man. The young husband and wife evade capture for as long as possible–until they are cornered by Nazi soldiers with tracking dogs.

Izzy’s disguise works. The couple are assumed to be escaped British soldiers and transported to a POW camp. However, their ordeal has just begun, as they face appalling living conditions and the constant fear of Izzy’s exposure. But in the midst of danger and deprivation comes hope, for the young couple are befriended by a small group of fellow prisoners. These men become their new family, willing to jeopardize their lives to save Izzy from being discovered and shot.

The Prisoner’s Wife tells of an incredible risk, and of how our deepest bonds are tested in desperate times. Bill and Izzy’s story is one of love and survival against the darkest odds.

The Girl in the Love Song by Emma Scott. Genre romance.

I will read it because ….it’s Emma Scott! Duh! If you didn’t guess she is my unicorn author, my one click artist, my tissues thief!

SYNOPSIS

At Santa Cruz Central High School, they called them the misfits, the outcasts, the weirdos. But most of us knew them as the Lost Boys…

Miller Stratton is a survivor. After a harrowing childhood of poverty, he will do anything it takes to find security for himself and his mom. He’s putting all his hopes and dreams in the fragile frame of his guitar and the beauty he creates with its strings and his soulful voice.

Until Violet.

No one expects to meet the love of their life at age thirteen. But the spunky rich girl steals Miller’s heart and refuses to give it back.

Violet McNamara’s life hasn’t been as simple as it looks. Her picture-perfect family is not so perfect after all. Her best friend Miller is her one constant and she is determined not to ruin their friendship with romantic complications.

But the heart wants what it wants. As Miller’s star begins to rise to stratospheric heights, what will it take for Violet to realize that she’s the girl in all of his love songs?

Lost Boys is a new series of interconnected, coming-of-age standalones from USA Today bestselling author Emma Scott, coming in 2020.

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary. Genre romance.

I will read it because I fell in love with Beth O’Leary’s writing after having read The Switch. And the Flatshare was so hypped that now I think it’s time for me to heopfully fall in love with that story too!

SYNOPSIS

iffy and Leon share a flat
Tiffy and Leon share a bed
Tiffy and Leon have never met…

Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.

But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window…

TRUEL1F3 by Jay Kristoff. Genre: science fiction

I will read it because I have waited months to know how this will end!!!! Pleease Mr Kristoff, don’t kill my favorite characters!

SYNOPSIS

From the bestselling co-author of the Illuminae Files comes the thrilling finale in the LIFEL1K3 trilogy–hailed by Marie Lu as “a breathless, action-packed exploration of what humanity really means.”

Best friends have become enemies. Lovers have become strangers. And deciding whose side you’re on could be the difference between life and death. For Eve and Lemon, discovering the truth about themselves–and each other–was too much for their friendship to take. But with the country on the brink of a new world war–this time between the BioMaas swarm at CityHive and Daedalus’s army at Megopolis, loyalties will be pushed to the brink, unlikely alliances will form and with them, betrayals. But the threat doesn’t stop there, because the lifelikes are determined to access the program that will set every robot free, a task requiring both Eve and Ana, the girl she was created to replace. In the end, violent clashes and heartbreaking choices reveal the true heroes . . . and they may not be who you think they are.

Adamantine by Rosie Weir. Genre: scifi? Romance? YA?

I will read it because it’s a totally new author, she has 1 follower on Goodreads BUT the synopsis really called to me. I don’t know why but the perspective of a love story between a girl and an AI charged of protecting her is really calling to me.

SYNOPSIS

Worried for his daughter’s future after a catastrophic disease ravaged humanity, brilliant scientist, James Walker, found a way to measure human consciousness and crafts the ultimate weapon to watch over his little girl: A sentient AI charged with the task of protecting her when is no longer able to do so. His creation, Will, is bestowed with an expansive intellect, superhuman strength, and a fierce protective streak.  
Tucked away in the heart of the Allegheny Mountains in a rustic log cabin, they live modestly off their sparse resources; hunting game, recording Turing tests on an old camcorder, and bonding over 80s movies. 
At eighteen, Molly knows little of the world beyond a collection of grainy VHS classics. Life with Will and James is idyllic. However, as the years go by, Molly finds something more profound than ‘sibling love’ growing for Will, whose feelings also start to change from duty and service to something else. But Will’s mission to protect involves keeping dangerous secrets, including some that could destroy the trust between them forever. Will struggles with the rigid self-discipline of his programming, versus turbulent, irrational feelings that grow stronger each day. 
True love can’t exist without honesty and risk; the two things Will has been programmed to control at all costs. But trouble is brewing outside their sheltered utopia, and ignorance might be a luxury neither of them can afford any longer.

Pfew that was a long list! Any of these on your list? What do you plan to read this summer?

Thanks for reading!

Sophie